1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internal sealing assembly for sealingly connecting a pair of pipes and, in one embodiment, relates to a secondary sealing assembly that can be installed within an existing pipeline about an existing pipe-to-pipe connection to seal a leak.
2. Description of the Related Art
Underground pipes which are used in municipal water and sewer systems, for example, typically include bell and spigot ends that are attached to one another in a sealed manner. Typically, either the spigot end or the bell end of such pipes includes a rubber seal which is compressed between the ends of the pipes to provide a sealed joint when the spigot end of one pipe is inserted into the bell end of another pipe. Occasionally, these primary joint seals between adjacent pipes may leak after installation in the field, requiring a secondary sealing assembly to seal the connection.
What is needed is an improved sealing assembly for sealing pipe-to-pipe joints.